Lebanon on Wednesday abolished a law that allows rapists to escape punishment for their crime if they marry their victims.
The abolition of the law brought a great reward to women’s rights campaigners who have been agitating for the removal of this provision for some time now.
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In a process that began in December, the country’s lawmakers voted to do away with article 522 in the Lebanese penal code. The article includes a provision that lets a rapist off the hook if he marries his victim, and its abolition follows a lengthy, and often graphic, campaign by activists.
Lebanon’s move follows the removal of similar laws in Jordan and Tunisia in July 2017. Egypt repealed its law in 1999, and Morocco overhauled its law in 2014 following the suicide of a 16-year-old girl and the attempted suicide of a 15-year-old, both of whom were forced to marry their rapists.
